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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



April 



having bestowed great pains in collecting and arranging tlie returns connected 

 with education and local taxation. To this Institution he rendered very 

 essential services, and whenever application was made to him in its behalf, 

 was always zealous in endeavouring to promote its interests. The lil)rary 

 was enriched by him with two coiiies of the Life and Works of Telford, and 

 as the acting executor of Telford, he endeavoured to cany out, by every 

 means in his power, the intentions of that great benefactor of the Insti- 

 tution. 



Mr. Rickman's acquirements in every department of knowledge were accu- 

 rate and extensive; to great (piickness of perception, and memory of no or- 

 dinary power, were added indefatigable industry, undeviating methotl, and 

 a sound critical judgment ; — qualities which caused bis acquaintance to be 

 highly valued by the most distinguished literary characters of the day, and 

 which, no less than the strict and scrupulous sense of justice and honour, 

 w liich particularly showed itself in his considerate kindness towards all those 

 with whom he was connected, will occasion his loss to be deeply regretted 

 by a widely extended circle. 



.\ddress of the President. 



Allow me to thank you for the compliment you have again paid me, by 

 electing me your President for this current year. 



The Secretary has reminded inc. that 1 have been in the habit of address- 

 ing you on occasions corresponding with the present, but the very full, and I 

 believe I may say, satisfactory He]iort of your late Council, has left but little 

 for me to say on the business of the Institution. Your new Council have 

 eleeterl >!r. Manby for Secretary, Mr. Gibbon for Collector, and Mr. Ilankey 

 for Treasurer. We have the test of long experience in favour of the Collector 

 and Treasurer, and although our acipiaintance with your Secretaiy is shorter 

 in point of time, we are all convinced that his whole attention and energies 

 will be, as indeed they hitherto have been, devoted to the Institution. 



Hitherto the increased nundjer of our Members, and the attendance at the 

 meetings during each year, have been commensurate with the growing im- 

 portance of the Institution, and I have little doubt of the success of the pre- 

 sent Session being still greater. We have under consideration several inter- 

 esting subjects, to which some of our most active Members have paid great 

 attention, and in which they have made important discoveries — these will 

 form the ground-work of interesting and instructive conversation, or even, to 

 use the language of a greater assembly, of ' debate,' but I trust that our dis- 

 cussions will continue to be conducted, as heretofore, with that good temper 

 which makes even debate dehghtful, when the attainment of truth is the sole 

 object. Truth will not bend one inch out of its right hue, to accommodate 

 false theory. He who tells us, that he '• lost his patience when works w ere 

 censured not as bad but as new," might be a very good poet, but in this 

 respect at least he was no philosopher. One of our Vice-Presidents has jjre- 

 seiited me, within a few days, with a Report on the best mode of improving 

 one of our great navigable rivers: this Report contains observations tending 

 to level with the dust much that has been said by, I believe, all other Engi- 

 neers, on the importance of tidal back-water. I know from experience that 

 many theories which have, through their novelty or otherwise, appeared start- 

 ling on the first view, have proved to be founded on truth, and have therefore 

 superseded the old-fashioned notions. No class of men can be more devoted 

 or bigoted to their opinions, than the Aristotehan philosophers were to their 

 doctrine of syllogisms and a priori theories, which, though it had the autho- 

 rity of ages and names, was obliged to yield to the once-despised and even 

 persecuted inductive philosophy of Bacon. Although, therefore, some Engi- 

 neers may not coincide with the views expressed by our Vice-President, we 

 shall do much good by examining impartially into the deductions he has 

 drawn, at the same time carefully avoiding all personal considerations. A 

 distinguished English Essayist after remarking that nothing denotes a great 

 mind more than the abhorrence of envy and detraction, states, that the best 

 poets of the same age have always lived on terms of the greatest friendship ; 

 and surely if tnis is the case with poets, who draw much upon imagination. 

 Engineers, who have to deal with science and with facts, have less apology 

 for excited feelings. 



Without seeking in the recollections of a bygone generation for compari- 

 sons, we may congratulate ourselves that, although the number of Engineers 

 has nmch increased, we are, I trust, without exception, /W«»/.v; and I con- 

 sider that our intimacy has been materially assisted by this Institution, where 

 we have met, compared o])inions, and rubbed otF the sharp angles of profes- 

 sional jealousy or emulation, if any such existed. 



Another valuable Member of the Council has, he conceives, discovered the 

 true theory of the action of steam in the Cornish Single Pumping Engines, 

 by which he accounts for their extraordinary economy. This theory, which 

 is equally novel and ingenious, is now subjected to your examination and criti- 

 cism, and I am sure that my friend Mr. Parkes would feel disappointed if his 

 <liscovery were not to be submitted to that ordeal, in common with every 

 similar subject of importance which is brought under the notice of the Insti- 

 tution. 



While I congratulate the Institution on the increase of its Members, I 

 ought at the same time to express my opinion, that from the number of 

 young gentlemen who within the last ten years have studied for, or have en- 

 tered, the profession, the supply is likely to be at the least equal to the de- 

 uiand ; and to caution those who intend entering or are now studying for it. 



against confining themselves to the strictly professional part of the usual 

 routine of education. 



The Railways, both during the preliminary surveys and in their subsequent 

 construction and management, in addition to other works of Engineering, 

 have given em|>loyment to many. But the principal towns are already con- 

 nected by Railways, or Engineers and Surveyors arc now employed in pro- 

 jecting or executing lines where they are yet wanted. Is then the demand 

 for professional gentlemen likely to increase ? Is it not likely rather to de- 

 crease ? Now certainly the number of Engineers or Students for Engineering 

 s increasing. If we look at the number of students in the classes for Civil 

 Engineering at the different Universities and Academies; the Universities of 

 lidinburgh and of Durham ; King's College, University College, and the Col- 

 lege for Civil Engineers in London ; we are led to ask, will this country find 

 employment for all these .' I freely confess that I doubt it. My object in 

 what I have here said is, not to deter those who may already have resolved 

 and have taken measures to follow the profession, but to advise them not to 

 depend on this country alone, and so to direct their studies as to fit them for 

 other countries also, where the field is not large enough to support men who 

 are strictly and exclusively professional. For such, great countries only can 

 find employment, and other great countries are educating their own engineers. 

 To be fitted for going abroad to any part of the world, a man must be a trades- 

 man as well as an engineer; he must furnish his hands as well as his head — and 

 if he know more trades than one, so much the better ; for he may have to 

 direct in all, but one he ought to know thoroughly. Thus stored, all the 

 world is open to him, and witli the formation of new continents and colonies, 

 and the improvement in the old ones, the engineer may insure independence. 

 Not only in such countries, but at home also, his experience as a workman 

 will prove his best friend and assistant in raising him to eminence, and make 

 him feel that confidence in his own resomces which has enabled so many en- 

 gineers, whose name and fame stand high in the annals of the profession, to 

 raise themselves from the millwright, stone-mason, and carpenter, to the 

 highest grade. As a strong corroboration of the system which I recommend, 

 you will observe the practical education given by each of these individuals to 

 those of their family who are intended to succeed them. Let it not be sup- 

 posed that I would undervalue the importance of science or of a scientific 

 education, which is as essential to the Engineer as the knowledge of the 

 principles of navigation is to the naval officer, but that I earnestly recommend 

 practice also. 



I hope to be excused this digression, but the great number of young gen- 

 tlemen who, having been bred in Engineers' offices, ajiply to me for employ- 

 ment, which I cannot give them, or to be admitted as apprentices when I 

 caimot in justice receive them, makes me feel very sensibly the importance 

 of these remarks, and that it is almost a duty to give this publicity to my 

 opinion. 



To return to the Institution : I hope the attendance at the ordinary Meet- 

 ings will be even better than that of last Session — that the Secretary's list 

 which is regularly posted up, will have still a greater number of bright spots 

 and a smaller number of black marks opposite the names of the Council, as 

 well as of the Members, Graduates, and Associates generally. I do not name 

 this as a complaint, for the attendance has hitherto gone on improving, that 

 of the Council intiucncing the Members. 



I have lately referred to the very great, and I fear, increasing, number of 

 debts due to the Institution from Members and Associates, and still more 

 from Graduates who were elected under a promise to send in an original com- 

 munication or drawing, and I hope that the present Session will show a great 

 reduction in the amount of these engagements. The fear of not producing 

 something of sufficient value ojierates proljably to overcome the desire which 

 every gentleman, having made a promise, must feel in redeeming it. As an 

 encouragement, let me refer such persons to the contributions by Graduates 

 during the last Session ; they will find that some of them required little in- 

 ventive genius, but only the ability to record correctly what they have noticed 

 on the public works in which they have been engaged, or which they have 

 visited. To some of these, the Council have awarded premiums, and they 

 esteem them valuable as recording details of works taken from measurements 

 at the time of execution, thus forming an addition to our records, and making 

 the Institution a deposit of " works done," which is one of its important uses ; 

 and I think no Engineer intrusted with pul)lic works would prevent Graduates 

 having the op])ortunity of doing this for their own improvement, and for the 

 benefit of the Institution. 



The subjects for these papers, models, and drawings, are numerous, — I may 

 almost say, innmuerable. Of many of the great national manufactures of this 

 country we have as yet no records in our possession, and until we possess 

 them our stores will be imperfect. As an Encyclop.'odia gives a definition 

 and general description of art, so should oiu' Institution possess an original 

 history, anil drawirigs or models, as well as books, treating on every machine 

 and manufacture connected with our profession. 



Members of the CouncU during the last Session contributed hberally in 

 books, and have set an example to the present Council. As a guide or spe- 

 cimen of the n.ature of the desired commuuicitions, the subjects for the Tel- 

 ford jiremiums have been varied iind enlarged, but it is not to be imderstood 

 that the subjects therein stated are (o occupy exclusively the attention of 

 Candidates, even for the Telford premiums. By Ihns enlarging the subjects 

 and innting i)apers, we may, I hope, look for an increased number of valuable 

 communications, which it may press upon the Telford Fund to do justice to ; 

 1 have therefore informed the Council that 1 ha\e appropriated the interest 



